I am going to be talking about as you
can read creative therapy so my youngest
memory of creative action was a picture
I drew for my art exam back in school I
was probably eight or nine years old and
the task was to draw a banana
now given that I had almost no artistic
skills whatsoever
I pretty much drew a cylindrical shape
in yellow but I put an umbrella on top
of my bananas head to protect the banana
from falling rain now believe it or not
I got full marks in my art exam so when
I think back on why I had to put more
into my picture than asked for I
realized I needed to convey or
communicate a message at this this
cognitive activity that I had like I
needed to be understood even through my
poor drawing skills so the thing is a
human need to be – this is there’s a
human need like there is an innate drive
in us to be to feel like we are part of
a bigger whole the society we need to be
the more people that stands in
solidarity with us the more we feel
complete or fulfilled as a person so we
communicate we convey like we take parts
in actions that are community based like
am I supposed to click somewhere in
can you please cook good someone please
okay so after that if any one of you
come from the era of parenting that I do
you would probably relate to this bit
have any one of you ever been locked in
the bathroom for angering your mother
like solitary confinement thank you so
it’s not fun it’s not fun and nobody
really likes to be lonely that’s the
thing no human being really likes to be
lonely so um
unless unless there is a problem unless
there is a problem and so let me talk
about a trauma four years ago back in
2014 I was accused of murdering my best
friend we got into a car accident I was
driving the car
and he was sitting right next to me
riding shotgun like always I had a brake
slip I lost control I rammed my car into
a police van
so the grieving father of my best friend
held a grudge over me coming out of the
accident alive to be really honest I
held a bigger grudge on me coming out of
the accident alive alone so he filed a
case against me and he promised to make
me pay he was grieving and it’s I
understand that and I was promptly taken
into custody I was like just after the
accident the next day I was in jail I
spent nine months in jail not only that
I was taken into remand for half a month
being tortured to sign a paper admitting
that I committed the murder
for half a month that’s 20 almost 21
days it’s actually more than half a
month so
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my
family
a few few friends who did not run away
with the intensity of this case and some
people who had hearts larger than life I
wouldn’t be here today I would still be
in jail
so yeah I’m sorry this is a little
difficult for me when I came out three
years ago this very month in fact I
realized my husband has had left me he
was having an affair and he sold all my
companies seven of them and he sold all
my assets and he was taking his paramour
out of the country I was devastated I
was distraught I had nothing basically
the life I had built had turned upside
down like this picture so yeah anyways
this is the technical stuff I’m gonna go
to so after I came out I mean I I was I
was there was some times that I really
wanted to give up I wanted like I I had
thoughts of committing suicide I had
thoughts of killing myself I I was I
probably would have if it wasn’t for my
family and there were times I didn’t
want to get out of my room I didn’t want
to meet people I didn’t want to look out
I didn’t even want to look out of my
window so pain is something that is the
pain is unbearable for a very very good
reason it does something to our brains
it does something to our body it’s so
intense for a very good reason so this
is a picture of our brain and that red
part is something called the hippo
campus it functions our memory and what
happens to a traumatized person or a
person who is even probably having
chronic back pain is the hippocampus
gets smaller and we are unable to
distinguish the present situation from
the past so we get triggered by
everything I mean everything is like I
mean you go into the alley where you had
that accident and you’re like suddenly
having a panic attack like I’m there you
know then is the ventromedial prefrontal
cortex this is something that has us
response to all hazard hazards response
emotionally to a particular stimuli for
example what do I feel when I look at
this teleprompter I’m probably gonna
feel like it didn’t work first time so a
little angry no I’m not really feeling
bad so anyways
it also decreases in volume and because
of that we also get triggered by
something that remotely relates to our
accident say a car that is probably
damaged somehow a little dent that would
have us have panic then is the amygdala
which goes into an overdrive because
it’s also controlled by ventromedial
prefrontal cortex and because that’s not
working this also stops working so what
it does is like even if like we cannot
have any it’s like everything triggers
like then if we see someone with a fear
response on their face someone who’s
afraid we get panicked like what people
are afraid what so that happens then
there is an area of the brain that’s
called Broca’s area which is also called
um which is also exam which is
responsible for our expressions how we
express ourselves so when
we have trauma we have this term called
Broca’s aphasia or expression problem
expressed expressive aphasia which is
where we cannot express ourselves in
words we tend to not be able to talk
like this would be very difficult for me
three years ago I’m doing this now after
a lot of I mean I was contemplating
looking looking at my phone and talking
out of it so anyway so that’s Broca’s
aphasia and yeah so that gets it gets
really difficult to say how we feel then
something happens with our heart like
it’s heart breaking literally there is
the storm called takotsubo
cardiomyopathy or the broken heart
syndrome where say something that
emotionally affects us a breakup that’s
death of a post person or even anxiety
triggers for our ventricle to be
enlarged and and this part gives us a
stroke or a lesion in the heart which
can lead to a bigger stroke where you
die so very very intense stuff that
happens to us when we go through pain
so why creative therapy is important
many psycho therapist says method
psychotherapeutic methods say for
example this one the gestalt therapy but
it was it was it was found by this guy
called fritz pearl it says that we need
to bring our past into the present we
need to bring it into the present and we
need to express it not just discuss it
we need to put ourselves our pasts into
some sort of solid something so creative
therapy is basically essentially all of
these five and a little more it’s
expressing yourself
in any positive way like you can’t
complain that’s expressing yourself too
you can’t complain because that’s
negative but if you go yours go to a
drama class maybe right write a script
about your problem and up about
something that’s bothering you and you
express yourself through that or say
movement you go traveling and you write
about it you write about what’s
bothering you even when you’re traveling
so when you do that you express yourself
into something into a positive product
or into a positive solid structure that
you can see that you can contemplate
that you can even if you don’t find a
closure for your problems you would deal
with it you would desensitize yourselves
with like with the problem like you
would deal with it literally and it
won’t bother you it won’t trigger you so
creative therapy is important because it
doesn’t let the wound get infected it
doesn’t let yourself not deal with the
problem and then probably going to a
drug addiction like Samir was saying he
had problems with his how his suddenly
he was traumatized so he wasn’t dealing
with it and then he went into this bad
habit this everything kind of like you
know rolled over after that it was like
a domino effect so so what we do is what
we take the pictures out of her head
that like you don’t troubles us and we
deal with it like imagine this steel
water and the world reflected into the
steel water can anyone guess which one
is the real pick which one is the real
house it’s this one’s this way and this
one’s upside down so can you guess which
one’s the real house which one’s the
right way up yes that one because you
see that’s that’s like you have to
scrutinize that but then if you don’t
can you understand which one’s the right
picture it’s very it’s quite difficult
to really get it until you scrutinize
and you see the those planes are various
various
this one’s not there’s a ripple in fact
so imagine a body of still water no
distress no disturbances and quite
easily we see the world reflected into
it so that our mind is the same we have
a reflection of the world into our
inside our head and and we boxed up our
pictures that hurt us we box up our
problems we compartmentalize this is the
era of super compartmentalization I mean
if you’re emotional preparing a meal
like ah here too soft or you’re too
emotional grow up or get strong it’s not
easy to get strong you cannot just take
control get stronger just like that you
really really can’t I mean I know time
heals but imagine if you have a broken
bone or a dislocated shoulder you need
to perform a post-reduction as soon as
you can otherwise it’s gonna heal yes
but it will be healing wrong so like you
cannot just leave it on time just like
that for a child who grew up watching
their parents fight is going to have
severe severe intimacy issues they’re
gonna be like dad scared of being in a
relationship or getting married that’s
like far off even like being emotionally
connected to people someone who is
bullied or jeered would have low
self-esteem quite obviously and
depression so before these problems go
into something that’s much more bigger
in volume it’s essential that you deal
with it and how exactly can you deal
with it when I came out when I was in
prison in fact I used to keep keep
journals
I used to write three or four times
every week and I used to like I remember
I crying and writing at the same time
and if after I was done I felt
light and there would be time that I
turned a bucket took a bucket I turn it
upside down and turned it into a
percussion instrument and my inmates
would join me and sing so when I came
out the reality of my life just hit
there was the stigma of being in jail
there was my loss there was disparity
and everything was all too real all of a
sudden and and like I said I wouldn’t
get out of my room but then I kept on
writing I kept on being somehow
expressing myself writing poetry or
something like that then I went out like
when I was ready I went out and I walked
all over the city I remember five
kilometres than ten kilometres then 20
kilometres and then going home really
really tired meditated infused with
adrenaline then I took up trekking there
is a picture here that doesn’t show for
some reason and at one point I also went
scuba diving in the Bay of Bengal which
was pretty cool so I’m gonna
fast-forward to this last story of mine
this February I went to follow up on a
story in the Rohingya camp it was about
a international art project that came
over and worked with the kids over there
in creative therapy so why I work with
this is because I after I was very very
sure of myself I found it two
Institute’s one where I work with green
spacing community and rural community
work space creation and creative therapy
workshops and the other where I take
women out to travel we go on trips
different places it’s amazing
men are allowed to as long as they are
somebody related to the woman so this is
something I wanted to follow up like
what they did when it comes to creative
they turned drab tin walls into amazing
pictures as you can see these pictures
were drawn by the kids and when I talked
to them they told me when I interviewed
them they told me they loved painting
they looked forward to it every day when
I talked to the volunteers they told me
that before their subject of the artwork
where guns are ships or fire then it
turned into people nature flowers and
there was change that’s a very very very
significant change so what you can do
when you go home is express yourself
think of something that bothers you
think of maybe it could be traffic jam I
know it bothers you so write that down
but not how you would talk about it
write it down from the perspective of
someone who’s hearing you talk about it
or if you are into painting or art and
stuff like that think about a problem
and again it could be global warming and
draw a mug that expresses global warming
or paint a tree that expresses global
warming
you won’t completely forget about the
problem but you would feel light you
would have dealt with your problems
head-on and you know it would be one
more result issue for the day thank you
very very much my name is Jonathan Rozelle
can read creative therapy so my youngest
memory of creative action was a picture
I drew for my art exam back in school I
was probably eight or nine years old and
the task was to draw a banana
now given that I had almost no artistic
skills whatsoever
I pretty much drew a cylindrical shape
in yellow but I put an umbrella on top
of my bananas head to protect the banana
from falling rain now believe it or not
I got full marks in my art exam so when
I think back on why I had to put more
into my picture than asked for I
realized I needed to convey or
communicate a message at this this
cognitive activity that I had like I
needed to be understood even through my
poor drawing skills so the thing is a
human need to be – this is there’s a
human need like there is an innate drive
in us to be to feel like we are part of
a bigger whole the society we need to be
the more people that stands in
solidarity with us the more we feel
complete or fulfilled as a person so we
communicate we convey like we take parts
in actions that are community based like
am I supposed to click somewhere in
can you please cook good someone please
okay so after that if any one of you
come from the era of parenting that I do
you would probably relate to this bit
have any one of you ever been locked in
the bathroom for angering your mother
like solitary confinement thank you so
it’s not fun it’s not fun and nobody
really likes to be lonely that’s the
thing no human being really likes to be
lonely so um
unless unless there is a problem unless
there is a problem and so let me talk
about a trauma four years ago back in
2014 I was accused of murdering my best
friend we got into a car accident I was
driving the car
and he was sitting right next to me
riding shotgun like always I had a brake
slip I lost control I rammed my car into
a police van
so the grieving father of my best friend
held a grudge over me coming out of the
accident alive to be really honest I
held a bigger grudge on me coming out of
the accident alive alone so he filed a
case against me and he promised to make
me pay he was grieving and it’s I
understand that and I was promptly taken
into custody I was like just after the
accident the next day I was in jail I
spent nine months in jail not only that
I was taken into remand for half a month
being tortured to sign a paper admitting
that I committed the murder
for half a month that’s 20 almost 21
days it’s actually more than half a
month so
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my
family
a few few friends who did not run away
with the intensity of this case and some
people who had hearts larger than life I
wouldn’t be here today I would still be
in jail
so yeah I’m sorry this is a little
difficult for me when I came out three
years ago this very month in fact I
realized my husband has had left me he
was having an affair and he sold all my
companies seven of them and he sold all
my assets and he was taking his paramour
out of the country I was devastated I
was distraught I had nothing basically
the life I had built had turned upside
down like this picture so yeah anyways
this is the technical stuff I’m gonna go
to so after I came out I mean I I was I
was there was some times that I really
wanted to give up I wanted like I I had
thoughts of committing suicide I had
thoughts of killing myself I I was I
probably would have if it wasn’t for my
family and there were times I didn’t
want to get out of my room I didn’t want
to meet people I didn’t want to look out
I didn’t even want to look out of my
window so pain is something that is the
pain is unbearable for a very very good
reason it does something to our brains
it does something to our body it’s so
intense for a very good reason so this
is a picture of our brain and that red
part is something called the hippo
campus it functions our memory and what
happens to a traumatized person or a
person who is even probably having
chronic back pain is the hippocampus
gets smaller and we are unable to
distinguish the present situation from
the past so we get triggered by
everything I mean everything is like I
mean you go into the alley where you had
that accident and you’re like suddenly
having a panic attack like I’m there you
know then is the ventromedial prefrontal
cortex this is something that has us
response to all hazard hazards response
emotionally to a particular stimuli for
example what do I feel when I look at
this teleprompter I’m probably gonna
feel like it didn’t work first time so a
little angry no I’m not really feeling
bad so anyways
it also decreases in volume and because
of that we also get triggered by
something that remotely relates to our
accident say a car that is probably
damaged somehow a little dent that would
have us have panic then is the amygdala
which goes into an overdrive because
it’s also controlled by ventromedial
prefrontal cortex and because that’s not
working this also stops working so what
it does is like even if like we cannot
have any it’s like everything triggers
like then if we see someone with a fear
response on their face someone who’s
afraid we get panicked like what people
are afraid what so that happens then
there is an area of the brain that’s
called Broca’s area which is also called
um which is also exam which is
responsible for our expressions how we
express ourselves so when
we have trauma we have this term called
Broca’s aphasia or expression problem
expressed expressive aphasia which is
where we cannot express ourselves in
words we tend to not be able to talk
like this would be very difficult for me
three years ago I’m doing this now after
a lot of I mean I was contemplating
looking looking at my phone and talking
out of it so anyway so that’s Broca’s
aphasia and yeah so that gets it gets
really difficult to say how we feel then
something happens with our heart like
it’s heart breaking literally there is
the storm called takotsubo
cardiomyopathy or the broken heart
syndrome where say something that
emotionally affects us a breakup that’s
death of a post person or even anxiety
triggers for our ventricle to be
enlarged and and this part gives us a
stroke or a lesion in the heart which
can lead to a bigger stroke where you
die so very very intense stuff that
happens to us when we go through pain
so why creative therapy is important
many psycho therapist says method
psychotherapeutic methods say for
example this one the gestalt therapy but
it was it was it was found by this guy
called fritz pearl it says that we need
to bring our past into the present we
need to bring it into the present and we
need to express it not just discuss it
we need to put ourselves our pasts into
some sort of solid something so creative
therapy is basically essentially all of
these five and a little more it’s
expressing yourself
in any positive way like you can’t
complain that’s expressing yourself too
you can’t complain because that’s
negative but if you go yours go to a
drama class maybe right write a script
about your problem and up about
something that’s bothering you and you
express yourself through that or say
movement you go traveling and you write
about it you write about what’s
bothering you even when you’re traveling
so when you do that you express yourself
into something into a positive product
or into a positive solid structure that
you can see that you can contemplate
that you can even if you don’t find a
closure for your problems you would deal
with it you would desensitize yourselves
with like with the problem like you
would deal with it literally and it
won’t bother you it won’t trigger you so
creative therapy is important because it
doesn’t let the wound get infected it
doesn’t let yourself not deal with the
problem and then probably going to a
drug addiction like Samir was saying he
had problems with his how his suddenly
he was traumatized so he wasn’t dealing
with it and then he went into this bad
habit this everything kind of like you
know rolled over after that it was like
a domino effect so so what we do is what
we take the pictures out of her head
that like you don’t troubles us and we
deal with it like imagine this steel
water and the world reflected into the
steel water can anyone guess which one
is the real pick which one is the real
house it’s this one’s this way and this
one’s upside down so can you guess which
one’s the real house which one’s the
right way up yes that one because you
see that’s that’s like you have to
scrutinize that but then if you don’t
can you understand which one’s the right
picture it’s very it’s quite difficult
to really get it until you scrutinize
and you see the those planes are various
various
this one’s not there’s a ripple in fact
so imagine a body of still water no
distress no disturbances and quite
easily we see the world reflected into
it so that our mind is the same we have
a reflection of the world into our
inside our head and and we boxed up our
pictures that hurt us we box up our
problems we compartmentalize this is the
era of super compartmentalization I mean
if you’re emotional preparing a meal
like ah here too soft or you’re too
emotional grow up or get strong it’s not
easy to get strong you cannot just take
control get stronger just like that you
really really can’t I mean I know time
heals but imagine if you have a broken
bone or a dislocated shoulder you need
to perform a post-reduction as soon as
you can otherwise it’s gonna heal yes
but it will be healing wrong so like you
cannot just leave it on time just like
that for a child who grew up watching
their parents fight is going to have
severe severe intimacy issues they’re
gonna be like dad scared of being in a
relationship or getting married that’s
like far off even like being emotionally
connected to people someone who is
bullied or jeered would have low
self-esteem quite obviously and
depression so before these problems go
into something that’s much more bigger
in volume it’s essential that you deal
with it and how exactly can you deal
with it when I came out when I was in
prison in fact I used to keep keep
journals
I used to write three or four times
every week and I used to like I remember
I crying and writing at the same time
and if after I was done I felt
light and there would be time that I
turned a bucket took a bucket I turn it
upside down and turned it into a
percussion instrument and my inmates
would join me and sing so when I came
out the reality of my life just hit
there was the stigma of being in jail
there was my loss there was disparity
and everything was all too real all of a
sudden and and like I said I wouldn’t
get out of my room but then I kept on
writing I kept on being somehow
expressing myself writing poetry or
something like that then I went out like
when I was ready I went out and I walked
all over the city I remember five
kilometres than ten kilometres then 20
kilometres and then going home really
really tired meditated infused with
adrenaline then I took up trekking there
is a picture here that doesn’t show for
some reason and at one point I also went
scuba diving in the Bay of Bengal which
was pretty cool so I’m gonna
fast-forward to this last story of mine
this February I went to follow up on a
story in the Rohingya camp it was about
a international art project that came
over and worked with the kids over there
in creative therapy so why I work with
this is because I after I was very very
sure of myself I found it two
Institute’s one where I work with green
spacing community and rural community
work space creation and creative therapy
workshops and the other where I take
women out to travel we go on trips
different places it’s amazing
men are allowed to as long as they are
somebody related to the woman so this is
something I wanted to follow up like
what they did when it comes to creative
they turned drab tin walls into amazing
pictures as you can see these pictures
were drawn by the kids and when I talked
to them they told me when I interviewed
them they told me they loved painting
they looked forward to it every day when
I talked to the volunteers they told me
that before their subject of the artwork
where guns are ships or fire then it
turned into people nature flowers and
there was change that’s a very very very
significant change so what you can do
when you go home is express yourself
think of something that bothers you
think of maybe it could be traffic jam I
know it bothers you so write that down
but not how you would talk about it
write it down from the perspective of
someone who’s hearing you talk about it
or if you are into painting or art and
stuff like that think about a problem
and again it could be global warming and
draw a mug that expresses global warming
or paint a tree that expresses global
warming
you won’t completely forget about the
problem but you would feel light you
would have dealt with your problems
head-on and you know it would be one
more result issue for the day thank you
very very much my name is Jonathan Rozelle
Please follow and like us: